I found this mommy/grandmommy blogger last fall. Ever since then I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her gems of truth. It all started when I came home from my trip to New England last summer to visit one of my sisters. (Read about that trip here.) Sister Emily lives an idyllic life as a wife, mother to 6 children, and artist, in a big colonial home tucked in a forest. See her website here with all its artistic, nature study vibes and you will see what I mean. After returning home from that glorious vacation, I was just a little sad to be leaving my sister and her family and all those old-timey patriotic New England feels. I don’t know exactly how to describe it. All the colonial history that took place there, all the dense forests, and deep appreciation for the heritage of old-fashioned America and country living was what I was picking up. After being immersed in New England and NYC for ten days, coming back to desert Utah felt like being dropped into a barren cultural wasteland, LOL. I’m sure that’s how my pioneer ancestors felt when they entered the Salt Lake Valley and probably anyone who visits for the first time from the centuries-old cultivated East. But Utah does have its own cultural charms, that eventually emerge, plus the amazing mountains.
Anyway, I wanted to find some kind of website or blog about life in New England that captured this feeling. Something involving a homeschooling family with lots of daughters, to also feel that Little Women old-fashioned family home culture home education vibe. So, I did a search for something like “blog about mother and daughters in New England” and I came up with Leila Lawler’s blog. It has been an absolute joy to learn from!
If you are a traditional housewife and mother, you will love her! As a mother of 7 and grandmother to 21, she is just brimming with wisdom. I’m not Catholic like she is, but regardless of the difference in our theology, I find we have a lot in common. We each have 7 children, we each believe in old-fashioned mothering (being open to having babies, breastfeeding, enjoying the seasons of a mother’s life, as in, having your career be your children until they leave your nest, family rituals like dinner together and family traditions), homeschooling, and saying “no thank you” to feminism.
As an only child who was raised by feminist parents, she has has seen the bad fruits produced by feminism. She says that her father encouraged her to have a career outside the home after her college education. She resisted that and chose to be a SAHM after marriage. She thoroughly enjoys her life and radiates love and joy.
Read her site here. It’s a treasure trove!
Read her School of Housewives Substack here. Another absolute treasure trove!
She does a weekly podcast with her husband Phil here. I don’t always understand all the Catholic terms, especially when they were talking about the new Pope, but I enjoy it, nonetheless.
Listen to her podcast interview in two parts with Carole Joy Seid of homeschoolmadesimple.net. It is so delightful! Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.
I have discovered the most interesting gems by reading her blog on her website and her substack.
Here are some of them…
-her four secrets to a happy marriage here
-how to give your children an old-fashioned summer here
-this book below, which she recommends as a great book about marriage
-how to make fairy flower dolls here.
-the fact that new washing machines don’t work as well as the old ones, with their new water-use regulations. She says they don’t get clothes thoroughly clean, which is why when you are in the market for a machine you should buy a used one. Read all about it here.
-her advice for feminine hairstyles here
-how to celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas, which for her starts on Christmas Day, read here. Sounds right up my alley with my love of family traditions, especially at Christmas!
-why modern libraries aren’t the best because of a pervasive movement to remove great books, and what to do about it, this involves her Library Project, which you can read about here.
-she even has a 3-volume book set about how to be a domestic goddess in your role as wife and mother, shown above, which you can buy here.
Just call her Auntie Leila and cozy in for tutoring in all things wifely, and motherly, and homemakingly, all done for the glory of God! Thank you Leila Lawler for your example and sharing! You are an American treasure!
Want more about about other great American mothers? Go here for Jan Bloom and here for Sally Fallon Morrell.
Tree of Life Mothering 